tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65087094542425863632017-08-03T07:41:43.641-07:00Hiara, a blog about empowering girlsJanet Chapmannoreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-39819198976736269202017-07-12T11:32:00.003-07:002017-07-12T11:32:39.982-07:00First State of the Map in Africa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wbBRyipZLb0/WWZUtsF89kI/AAAAAAAAUlE/OuCrSwX5YXQxM4Ll7BYuIQ8qBTsp0SW2wCLcBGAs/s1600/sotm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="133" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wbBRyipZLb0/WWZUtsF89kI/AAAAAAAAUlE/OuCrSwX5YXQxM4Ll7BYuIQ8qBTsp0SW2wCLcBGAs/s200/sotm.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>It was a great privilege to present <a href="https://crowd2map.wordpress.com/">Crowd2Map</a> at the first <a href="http://sotmafrica.org/">State of the Map Africa</a> held in Kampala last weekend. &nbsp;Over 150 people came from 21 countries and I've never been to part of a conference that had such a strong sense of community. There can't be many places where people from such diverse backgrounds as <a href="https://twitter.com/wisemana">Apple</a>, the World Bank and <a href="https://www.mapbox.com/">Mapbox </a>get to collaborate, dance and even play football with activists from Mali, Niger and Kenya, and community mappers from around the world.<br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBT0AZiM5gc/WWZpS21uo6I/AAAAAAAAUlY/azxkY-I5Q349M722gUzaScfmdJ7r1hp0wCEwYBhgL/s1600/sotm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="726" height="132" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBT0AZiM5gc/WWZpS21uo6I/AAAAAAAAUlY/azxkY-I5Q349M722gUzaScfmdJ7r1hp0wCEwYBhgL/s200/sotm2.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />The Map Uganda team did a great job - even down to the <br />amazing t-shirts, although they were no match for the Rest of the World football team that closed the conference.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cjo1OYFJMdI/WWZqzdk8msI/AAAAAAAAUlc/X2ihkxXxTeYLtpC17ek8WnSyGYx7sm1_ACLcBGAs/s1600/20170710_115513.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="112" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cjo1OYFJMdI/WWZqzdk8msI/AAAAAAAAUlc/X2ihkxXxTeYLtpC17ek8WnSyGYx7sm1_ACLcBGAs/s200/20170710_115513.jpg" width="200" /></a>My personal highlights were participating in the Women Mappers panel with <a href="https://twitter.com/sotmafrica/status/883635807764049921">these amazing women</a>, meeting the other African&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hotosm.org/updates/2017-04-20_hot_microgrants_2017_results" target="_blank">Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Microgrant</a> winners and learning about their projects, and even getting started with&nbsp;<a href="http://qgis.org/en/site/" target="_blank">QGIS</a>, <a href="http://overpass-turbo.eu/" target="_blank">Overpass Turbo</a> and <a href="https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/untitled-map_157447#11/-4.8803/30.0311" target="_blank">UMap</a> thanks to the very many people who were extremely patient with a beginner like me. &nbsp;And I was extremely impressed with the many <a href="http://www.youthmappers.org/" target="_blank">Youthmappers</a> from many countries, and hope they will support the chapter we have just set up at the <a href="http://www.irdp.ac.tz/" target="_blank">Institute of Rural Development Planning</a> in Tanzania.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-14600039304473407412017-02-19T05:33:00.002-08:002017-02-19T05:55:13.044-08:00Drought brings hunger to Tanzania<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u2FPjgdcZ9o/WKmc4YFQUwI/AAAAAAAAS9w/SMNWZE7dNKozdIoGz7paJvhII4YiotjaQCLcB/s1600/20150129_125418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u2FPjgdcZ9o/WKmc4YFQUwI/AAAAAAAAS9w/SMNWZE7dNKozdIoGz7paJvhII4YiotjaQCLcB/s320/20150129_125418.jpg" width="179" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Life in villages like <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/transforming-zeze-village-with.html">Zeze</a> in western Tanzania is precarious at the best of times.&nbsp; People here are subsistence farmers living on around 80p a day and can only grow crops during the rainy seasons when they have access to water.&nbsp; But now is not the best of times. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Climate Change is already having an impact here.&nbsp; Ponds that used to supply water year round for animals (and often people too) have now started drying up.&nbsp; The <a href="http://vf-tropi.com/vf-defs.html">vuli </a>rains were 6 weeks late in arriving here, inducing panic.&nbsp; When the harvest fails, everyone goes hungry.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">That is already happening in other areas of Tanzania.&nbsp; In <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/412993031#map=10/-1.5722/31.4463">Kibirizi</a> students walk for up to 4 hours a day to get to and from secondary school, on an empty stomach as there are no school lunches here.&nbsp; When girls get home, they are expected to go to collect water and firewood and so have no time to study.&nbsp; To try and help them overcome this disadvantage <a href="http://www.tanzdevtrust.org/">TDT</a> helped the school set up a girls’ hostel nearby.&nbsp; 20 girls stayed there during the week, cooking and studying together by solar light each evening and then sleeping on the floor in one room when the lights ran out.&nbsp; Their dedication is astounding.&nbsp; They are determined to be the first in their families to go onto to further education and become </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KO_ty7fDCF4/WKmdSf__FVI/AAAAAAAAS90/dkC0wSifrz4InwMyCYlvOGbJ6k_otroJQCLcB/s1600/Hostel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KO_ty7fDCF4/WKmdSf__FVI/AAAAAAAAS90/dkC0wSifrz4InwMyCYlvOGbJ6k_otroJQCLcB/s320/Hostel.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">teachers, doctors, nurses.&nbsp; In the exam results out last month they were on track to do this.&nbsp; But now drought has come to Karagwe and their families have no food to send them.&nbsp; The hostel is shut and all the girls have gone home. <o:p></o:p></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">In Maswa in Central Tanzania <a href="http://kasodefo.blogspot.co.uk/">Kasedefo</a> are running a successful microcredit scheme.&nbsp; Women learn the basics about starting a small business and get a small loan and a mentor.&nbsp; Over 200 women have succeeded.&nbsp; Although their profits are modest by our standards, the effect is huge.&nbsp; One woman told me now she could buy medicine for her sick baby, others can buy uniforms so their children can now attend school, and everyone took pride in their business and repaid their loans on time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6m-QmLW6Cp4/WKmelRI0K_I/AAAAAAAAS-A/n8amBL9fQpM2N3YRe0tNjIf1wtAl36NgwCLcB/s1600/laughing%2Bgirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6m-QmLW6Cp4/WKmelRI0K_I/AAAAAAAAS-A/n8amBL9fQpM2N3YRe0tNjIf1wtAl36NgwCLcB/s320/laughing%2Bgirls.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">But this year’s rains have not come.&nbsp; There is a shortage of water, crops are dying, people are going hungry and spending more and more time collecting water.&nbsp; The women who proudly repaid instalments 3 months ago are now in tears.&nbsp; Small businesses based of agriculture have no chance, and other fail because everyone is living hand to mouth with no money to spend. In times of desperation some people turn to a scapegoat.&nbsp; Here that can be elderly women who can be accused of causing the drought by witchcraft. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Climate change is already affecting rainfall in places like Tanzania. &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">For people whose access to water is already precarious, that is life threatening.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">According to the <a href="http://www.fews.net/east-africa/tanzania">Famine Early Warning</a> System all of Tanzania now face critical food insecurity. Which is why in villages like Zeze, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MVGZeze/">local youth</a>&nbsp;drill by hand for <a href="https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/enable-500-tanzanian-youth-to-feed-their-families/reports/?subid=73639">6 days through rock </a>to reach water. &nbsp;You can help them provide more vital bore holes <a href="https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/enable-500-tanzanian-youth-to-feed-their-families/">here.&nbsp;</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-39874078313689205722016-12-05T07:21:00.000-08:002016-12-05T07:21:03.040-08:00Update from Zeze - WiFi, welding and a community library<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o8b-Hy6XB2A/WEVFhqpf37I/AAAAAAAAR3E/_Wq9fLjxHe0vT2HiNZM_-aPYR3VUR9TeQCPcB/s1600/IMG_20160518_160321293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o8b-Hy6XB2A/WEVFhqpf37I/AAAAAAAAR3E/_Wq9fLjxHe0vT2HiNZM_-aPYR3VUR9TeQCPcB/s200/IMG_20160518_160321293.jpg" width="112" /></a>Communicating with Zeze has been difficult - the mobile phone signal is generally poor, particularly in the rainy season and so Benedicto would have to go 40 km into Kasulu to send emails and Skype. &nbsp;But in May 2016 Avanti, set up a pilot Community Hotspot in Zeze providing satellite broadband in the village, courtesy of a grant from the UK Space Agency. <br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlacF63oybs/WEGeZw_-3EI/AAAAAAAARxw/8YHX5wE_XAAjJ3ms-lELvk7VPO58wIzBQCPcB/s1600/20161202_172105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlacF63oybs/WEGeZw_-3EI/AAAAAAAARxw/8YHX5wE_XAAjJ3ms-lELvk7VPO58wIzBQCPcB/s320/20161202_172105.jpg" width="180" /></a>This has meant that MVG are now able to communicate with the outside world. &nbsp;They are monitoring climate change and water levels in a research project with Kings College, London, and can now email data without having to travel. They have also been able to download resources to teach the illiterate women starting to learn to read in the community library, as well as e-books for the children.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PpJRkKvZZWQ/WEVFhqe45MI/AAAAAAAAR3E/r5L_S7-1rSwkI5XJVrdKNNUbrTe6wca9QCPcB/s1600/20160926_160404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PpJRkKvZZWQ/WEVFhqe45MI/AAAAAAAAR3E/r5L_S7-1rSwkI5XJVrdKNNUbrTe6wca9QCPcB/s200/20160926_160404.jpg" width="200" /></a>Unemployment is high in Zeze - there are very few opportunities other than the subsistence farming that is insufficient to provide an adequate income. &nbsp;But when the schools need new desks they currently get carpenters in from Kasulu, as there are none with adequate tools or skills in Zeze. &nbsp;So MVG is setting up a welding and carpentry workshop to train local youth and provide these services locally. &nbsp;Getting equipment to a village 60km from a tarmac road and 40km from mains electricity is a slow process, particularly in the rainy season when everything turns to mud, but the workshop is built, the instructors in place and the youth identified, and excited to start learning in the New Year.<br /><br />One of the issues with farming here is that soils are<br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HXxFhihwoRQ/WEVNFSEb7LI/AAAAAAAAR34/Spn7FtsBKQYDhs2dYIzYQhSh7_iNrpKQQCLcB/s1600/getting%2Bseeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HXxFhihwoRQ/WEVNFSEb7LI/AAAAAAAAR34/Spn7FtsBKQYDhs2dYIzYQhSh7_iNrpKQQCLcB/s320/getting%2Bseeds.jpg" width="180" /></a>depleted and farmers cannot afford good seeds or organic fertilisers. So MVG have set up a farmer training and loan scheme to help them. &nbsp;The first 31 farmers planted their hybrid maize last week after great rejoicing that the rains had finally arrived, 2 months late. Another issue is access to water. &nbsp;So far MVG have hand drilled 5 bore holes, including at the clinic, which did not have water. &nbsp;This is a slow, hard, process, taking up to 6 days of hard physical labour for 7 men. &nbsp;But it saves hours of walking to collect water for the villagers, and means they don't rely on the filthy ponds some of them resorted to previously.<br /><br />They've got big plans to improve their community here, and money goes a very long way, so if you are able to donate it is very much appreciated and <a href="https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/enable-500-tanzanian-youth-to-feed-their-families/">you can do so here</a>. Asante!Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-18750425623007956782016-05-02T03:43:00.000-07:002017-06-24T07:52:57.896-07:00Mapping the fight against FGM in Mara<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ff4invGzgWg/VAYNrf8M8wI/AAAAAAAAKJw/dsoT3e9Vg6o6XP8rkN8fKWrqxMRIwg98QCKgB/s1600/20140902_164642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ff4invGzgWg/VAYNrf8M8wI/AAAAAAAAKJw/dsoT3e9Vg6o6XP8rkN8fKWrqxMRIwg98QCKgB/s320/20140902_164642.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">As a survivor of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) herself, <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/rhobis-story-why-she-cares-so.html" target="_blank">Rhobi Samwelly</a> is determined that the girls now growing up in Mara will not suffer as she did. &nbsp;As a 13 year old she knew well the dangers of FGM, as one of her friends had died from the practice the previous year. She pleaded in vain with her parents not to subject her to it. &nbsp;Having nowhere to turn she had no choice but to submit to the cut, which almost cost her her life as she bled so much she fell unconscious.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-93V_ZfTL40E/VAYOMgUaoSI/AAAAAAAAKKA/keacNPMiO6gZCUyzykp-zorxpvZCViGkACKgB/s1600/20140902_153456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-93V_ZfTL40E/VAYOMgUaoSI/AAAAAAAAKKA/keacNPMiO6gZCUyzykp-zorxpvZCViGkACKgB/s320/20140902_153456.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Twenty years later she finally achieved her dream and set up the Mugumu Safe House - a sanctuary where girls refusing FGM can turn during the annual "cutting season". &nbsp;To ensure girls know they have a safe place to turn, Rhobi visits the remote villages where they are most at risk to tell them about their rights. &nbsp;But there are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1vxrZfLwCM" target="_blank">no maps</a> available meaning it is very hard to ensure all villages are covered. Villages like <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=sogoti#map=16/-1.6590/34.5502" target="_blank">Sogoti</a> were forgotten by the outside world. Rhobi had to cut down trees to reach it the first time she visited. &nbsp;</span><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ckJgxiAdjWg/Vtq-TryPIVI/AAAAAAAAOOY/uuDA9PmXJ8MD8ViowIvVmYwVZILXGKWYACKgB/s1600/Javita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ckJgxiAdjWg/Vtq-TryPIVI/AAAAAAAAOOY/uuDA9PmXJ8MD8ViowIvVmYwVZILXGKWYACKgB/s1600/Javita.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Now we have added the school to <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/402496969#map=16/-1.6590/34.5502" target="_blank">Openstreetmap,</a> but not yet the roads leading to it, making navigation still&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">difficult. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">We want to ensure that girls in villages like Sogoti are protected from FGM and forced marriage. &nbsp;Rhobi wants an activist in each village that girls at risk can turn to, and each of these places clearly labelled on a map, with a contact number. &nbsp;Then girls in danger can more easily be directed to people who will help them, and be found easily by safe house staff.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">We have started the map - <a href="%2Ehttp://tasks.hotosm.org/?sort_by=priority&amp;direction=asc&amp;search=Tanzania+Development+Trust" target="_blank">please join us to complete it.</a>and help protect girls like Javita.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">There is more information about this mapping project and how much we have mapped <a href="https://crowd2map.wordpress.com/">here.</a>&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br />Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-10922281290733290462015-12-16T23:57:00.001-08:002016-01-22T03:12:19.169-08:00161 girls now seeing sanctuary from FGM at the Safe House<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tpdwHMf_G_U/Vm_educV8DI/AAAAAAAAN-A/2x4m5O1peyE/s1600/_MG_6794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tpdwHMf_G_U/Vm_educV8DI/AAAAAAAAN-A/2x4m5O1peyE/s320/_MG_6794.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.com/2014/09/rhobis-story-why-she-cares-so.html" target="_blank">Rhobi</a>&nbsp;was expecting a relatively quiet cutting season this year as most of the Kuria tribe in Serengeti only cut on alternate years. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">But news of the Safe House has spread far and wide, and there are now 161 girls from as far away as Loliondo, 5 hours by bus.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7WIz_vjfAPs/Vm_eVfOvx0I/AAAAAAAAN9w/Fyr0xhC2kTY/s1600/Javita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7WIz_vjfAPs/Vm_eVfOvx0I/AAAAAAAAN9w/Fyr0xhC2kTY/s320/Javita.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Some of the girls are as young as 9. &nbsp;Girls like Javita, left, fleeing with her sister. &nbsp;Her mother told them to run, fearing that her neighbours would force them to be cut. &nbsp;Javita is an amazing dancer, and wants to be a doctor, she told me shyly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Others have come alone or with their friends. Many ran away at night after finding out that they were going to be cut in the morning. They arrive at the Safe House with just the clothes they are wearing. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">On Human Rights day last week the girls marched around Mugumu town demanding control over their bodies and singing songs they have composed proclaiming "We girls of today don't want FGM".</span><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UQlLx5bAUL8/VnJU_UrQvwI/AAAAAAAAOAY/5QxOjQiojQ4/s1600/20151211_140831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UQlLx5bAUL8/VnJU_UrQvwI/AAAAAAAAOAY/5QxOjQiojQ4/s320/20151211_140831.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">It's a struggle to </span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">accommodate so many girls, especially as there is no kitchen and everything is cooked on firewood. &nbsp;The girls eat outside which is difficult during the frequent rain.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Girls are now sharing 3 to a mattress and we've made a makeshift dormitory in the tailoring room. &nbsp;But spirits are high - the girls know they are the lucky ones, many of their friends back in the villages are now dealing with the many health problems that come with being cut, including the very real danger of HIV infection. &nbsp; You can see a short film about the Safe House <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlno1G14q00&amp;app=desktop" target="_blank">here</a> and one about Salama, the abandoned baby rescued from wild dogs that they are sheltering <a href="https://youtu.be/QgM6oSC9kUQ" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</span></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-65203258537184541932015-12-06T03:01:00.004-08:002016-09-16T01:57:39.611-07:00Putting Zeze on the map<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F_UDVnHgv4M/VmLqTsNgnFI/AAAAAAAANwc/4IuYzbjQRbg/s1600/upload_-1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F_UDVnHgv4M/VmLqTsNgnFI/AAAAAAAANwc/4IuYzbjQRbg/s320/upload_-1" width="320" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 20.8px;">It's the rainy season in Zeze so everyone is busy in the fields making the most of the precious water to try and grow enough to sustain their families over the dry season.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 20.8px;">The unpredictability of the rainfall and lack of any storage is not without it's problems. &nbsp;The roads quickly turn to inpassable mud and malaria rates soar. &nbsp;</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38n6hl4shRY/VmPyZydzpAI/AAAAAAAAN2Q/Fb_HhB1wtDc/s1600/20151203_123436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38n6hl4shRY/VmPyZydzpAI/AAAAAAAAN2Q/Fb_HhB1wtDc/s320/20151203_123436.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7FoTyw2QhTc/VmIOnhs3CbI/AAAAAAAANo0/93q3goekWws/s1600/upload_-1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7FoTyw2QhTc/VmIOnhs3CbI/AAAAAAAANo0/93q3goekWws/s320/upload_-1" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 20.8px;">There is one minibus per day into town. &nbsp;Otherwise if you need to go to the bank, hospital or council office you have to go by motorbike, which gets harder when it rains..</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><br /></span></span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cK58LFjRmjI/VmLbI2hdwCI/AAAAAAAANus/N5oUciCky-Y/s1600/upload_-1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cK58LFjRmjI/VmLbI2hdwCI/AAAAAAAANus/N5oUciCky-Y/s320/upload_-1" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">These&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">11 year old boys had cut grass for an hour and then carried it for a further hour, to sell it for the equivalent of 10p.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/microfinance-in-zeze-transforming.html" target="_blank">The womens' microfinance group</a> is going very well with small loans continuing to transform lives. &nbsp;I spoke to Deniza, getting a loan to expand her tailoring business. &nbsp;Unable to walk, her life was transformed by her bicycle, but others are not so lucky. &nbsp;Amos can only go to school if he crawls or someone carries him..</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nsaBA-xhGiM/VmPpkyGidnI/AAAAAAAAN18/xrA-_QTGpN4/s1600/upload_-1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nsaBA-xhGiM/VmPpkyGidnI/AAAAAAAAN18/xrA-_QTGpN4/s320/upload_-1" width="320" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">The secondary school laboratories now have roofs, but still no doors or windows. &nbsp;I brought some simple science equipment such as springs and pH paper and so they excitedly did their first practical experiment - testing the pH of a local drink. Even the headteacher, a science graduate had never had access to indicator paper before.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;">If you look for Zeze on Google maps you will just see a huge empty space where there are hundreds of villages. So, using&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapswithme.maps.pro&amp;hl=en_GB">Maps.Me</a>&nbsp;a free app and donated tablets and phones we've been adding places of interest in Zeze and beyond to <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4023977743">openstreetmap</a>, the Wikipedia for maps that anyone can edit.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our fundraising campaign. &nbsp;We are using the money to purchase equipment for&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">hand drilling and rope pumps, meaning we can dig water sources around the village for drinking and irrigation. If you would like to contribute&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/enable-500-tanzanian-youth-to-feed-their-families/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">you can do so here.</a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">&nbsp; &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-49544779218322822992015-10-02T03:30:00.000-07:002015-10-02T03:31:23.189-07:00Helping water problems in Zeze with an eBay pump.. <div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kq3gCMi33LU/VdsY_lVSU0I/AAAAAAAAM2c/MwJqZ5aUOJw/s1600/20150818_174820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kq3gCMi33LU/VdsY_lVSU0I/AAAAAAAAM2c/MwJqZ5aUOJw/s320/20150818_174820.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Water dominates life in Zeze.&nbsp; Everyone conserves the little they have as obtaining it is so difficult – carrying it long distances to your home, queuing at the pump…&nbsp; There is also the continual fear that another of the pumps will fail, making water even harder to obtain.&nbsp; These are constantly breaking down.&nbsp; When I visited in June only 5 were working, on my most recent visit in August, only 3 were working. There have been times when the whole village of 8000 people are down to 1 working pump.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_e8rFQZUSc/Vg5Zf3HTMSI/AAAAAAAANIw/xPWcoPdjRc8/s1600/20150813_124318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_e8rFQZUSc/Vg5Zf3HTMSI/AAAAAAAANIw/xPWcoPdjRc8/s320/20150813_124318.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;Generally the problem is seals and bearings. &nbsp;&nbsp;The local fundis (handymen) appear to be resourceful and show initiative, even to the extent of trying to make local parts where possible.&nbsp; The water officials in Kasulu town 40 km away are less helpful, and frequently promise to help and visit but don’t.&nbsp; They don’t stock any spare parts in Kasulu and say they order them from India when necessary.&nbsp; One pump has been broken for over a year because pipes have broken off and fallen inside the well and there is &nbsp;no equipment to get them out.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LkjYoKGtPyA/Vg5Z5tq__0I/AAAAAAAANJM/SnWkTuDkL94/s1600/20150816_153757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LkjYoKGtPyA/Vg5Z5tq__0I/AAAAAAAANJM/SnWkTuDkL94/s320/20150816_153757.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ji8D8MH7SsI/Vg5b9PAdK3I/AAAAAAAANJc/Bicbx2XDU44/s1600/20150813_150158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ji8D8MH7SsI/Vg5b9PAdK3I/AAAAAAAANJc/Bicbx2XDU44/s320/20150813_150158.jpg" width="179" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So Benedicto and his friends decided to fix this&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hand pump with a solar one I bought on ebay, courtesy of a generous donor and brought out in my luggage.&nbsp; As the water is so deep (36m down) we had to run it at 24V on two car batteries.&nbsp; Getting these was a mission in itself.&nbsp; You can buy very little in Zeze itself so a&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />friend bought them in Kasulu and put them on a daladala (communal minibus) to drop them off at the junction 10km away where they were met by another&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />friend with a motorbike.&nbsp; Unfortunately when they arrived they were suspiciously light… because they were empty of the necessary acid, meaning we had to repeat the process the following day with bottles of acid.. <o:p></o:p></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’d spent a long time negotiating with drivers in Kasulu to bring the 1000l plastic tank on their roof.&nbsp; The first one in the village, this was a great novelty.&nbsp; Benedicto tracked down the one man in Zeze with a saw and proceeded to make a wooden structure to put the tank on.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting the right seals to fix the pipes was another challenge.&nbsp; I’d brought out all the seals I thought we would need and we bought the only jubilee clips we could find in Kasulu, but in the end had to tie things together with old car tyre strips..&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FDxbJZ4gzmI/Vg5aQo_UhpI/AAAAAAAANJQ/B2qasuu0MOY/s1600/20150815_200304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FDxbJZ4gzmI/Vg5aQo_UhpI/AAAAAAAANJQ/B2qasuu0MOY/s320/20150815_200304.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But finally, by torchlight, the pump, dry for over a year, started pumping water, to great cheers and excitement.&nbsp; The pump isn’t really powerful enough for this. It takes around 5 hours to fill the tank and it can’t keep up with the demand for water.&nbsp; The long term plan is to raise enough money to buy a heavy duty pump capable of filling the 1,000,000l tank that has been out of use since the 1970s..<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, for now, the villagers are saved a long walk to a working pump…&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-42906474471413747372015-09-24T01:52:00.003-07:002015-09-24T01:54:26.321-07:00Microfinance in Zeze - transforming womens' lives with small loans<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j7rq9w6T068/VdsexF966aI/AAAAAAAAM4k/GiJOHPZnMt8/s1600/20150815_175617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j7rq9w6T068/VdsexF966aI/AAAAAAAAM4k/GiJOHPZnMt8/s320/20150815_175617.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In August I spent a week in Zeze village and met the chair, vice chair and secretary of the microfinance group, as well as many of the women who have received loans.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I &nbsp;also visited many of them in their homes and businesses and&nbsp;spoke to the Village Chairman, Village Executive Officer, and chair of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MVGZeze" target="_blank">MVG</a>, who are running the scheme who all confirmed the positive impact the scheme is having on the village.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gA2acTBCYBI/VdsfI_f-2aI/AAAAAAAAM50/o9b1HbhVOm4/s1600/20150815_175301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gA2acTBCYBI/VdsfI_f-2aI/AAAAAAAAM50/o9b1HbhVOm4/s320/20150815_175301.jpg" width="180" /></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Petronia had her loan in May, thanks to a new injection of funds from <a href="http://www.wabia.net/about" target="_blank">Wabia</a>. She buys palm oil from farmers in the fields and resells it in the market, making approx. £8 profit per week.&nbsp; Recently her 8 month baby started excreting blood and she was able to take her to the doctors and buy medicine.&nbsp; Without her business she said she would have been unable to do that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ky3HxxIghgg/Vdse53zoDdI/AAAAAAAAM48/y9rUUB7IDx4/s1600/20150815_175505.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ky3HxxIghgg/Vdse53zoDdI/AAAAAAAAM48/y9rUUB7IDx4/s320/20150815_175505.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pendo buys petrol in large containers and decants it into litre bottles which she sells in the market and on the road.&nbsp; Her profits mean that she is able to pay for her son, who was unemployed, to study to be a mechanic.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edita received her loan last month.&nbsp; She is making bible covers for 80p that she sells for £1 in Kasulu, the town 40 km away that she visits twice a week.&nbsp; She had sold 40 to a shop there the previous day.&nbsp; She is saving to purchase a second sewing machine so her husband can also make them at the same time.&nbsp; She also wants to branch into mpesa (mobile money)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Josrene had an initial £18 loan which she repaid, &nbsp;then a £50 loan in May.&nbsp; She collects maize and beans from farmers in the field and then grinds flour and then sells in bulk to buyers from Kigoma.&nbsp; She is saving to build a bigger house for her family with larger storage capacities as she wants to sell wholesale directly in Kigoma in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4l65dsveFo0/VdsemrcjaSI/AAAAAAAAM4E/hzAMF9x3oDY/s1600/20150818_173509.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4l65dsveFo0/VdsemrcjaSI/AAAAAAAAM4E/hzAMF9x3oDY/s320/20150818_173509.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Godliva had a second loan in June.&nbsp; She also sells beans and maize, but also soap. She gets a profit of 80p &nbsp;per box for this.&nbsp; She is saving money to get a soap factory so she can make her own soap. &nbsp;This would cost £120 but she estimates it would bring her "20 a week profit.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a8DGJWoHJVE/VdsealPbbLI/AAAAAAAAM3U/IGKylyPaZGI/s1600/20150818_180652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a8DGJWoHJVE/VdsealPbbLI/AAAAAAAAM3U/IGKylyPaZGI/s320/20150818_180652.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was generally striking was the pride with which the women talked about their businesses.&nbsp; They have noticeably grown in confidence since I met them in January, and have a higher status in their family and in the village as a whole. Originally I was told that there was resistance from some men in the village, concerned that women getting loans would be a threat to their authority.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now the same men ask <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/transforming-zeze-village-with.html" target="_blank">Benedicto </a>when their wives can get a loan.&nbsp; It was touching to see a number of the women working closely with their husbands as partners in the business, whereas previously they worked much more separately. This appears to have had a positive effect on their relationships, which was confirmed by the women themselves. In the training women were told <b><i>“Don’t use your loan to exploit your husband, rather money should be a tool for strengthening the love in your family”.</i></b>&nbsp;&nbsp; They seem to have taken this to heart!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-83115469660329523042015-09-01T13:19:00.001-07:002015-09-01T13:19:36.871-07:00Bringing broadband to Zeze School<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cJoBHIYgaFU/VeXYS6rPsPI/AAAAAAAAM7E/GUeffrCfm-A/s1600/20150817_220310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cJoBHIYgaFU/VeXYS6rPsPI/AAAAAAAAM7E/GUeffrCfm-A/s320/20150817_220310.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">School life in <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/transforming-zeze-village-with.html" target="_blank">Zeze</a> is rather different from the one&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember. &nbsp;For a start most pupils walk for over an hour to get there. &nbsp;They also have to carry water with them to clean the school &nbsp;as there is no water source nearby. &nbsp;Their parents are subsistence farmers who struggle to provide them with food and uniforms. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no electricity in the village and kerosene is expensive, so they struggle to study after dark. &nbsp;So <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/bees-and-sunflowers-in-zeze.html" target="_blank">Benedicto</a>, TDT's enterprising local representative has set up student study groups. &nbsp;Each group of 5 students was given one solar light, cost £4, which they share to study at night. Students are extremely ambitious. &nbsp;They realise that doing well at school could be the only route out of poverty for themselves and their families.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VnXqb4hXWxA/VeYE88uWYmI/AAAAAAAAM9E/GYOlnZsn0Tk/s1600/20150814_112454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VnXqb4hXWxA/VeYE88uWYmI/AAAAAAAAM9E/GYOlnZsn0Tk/s320/20150814_112454.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are very few text books in the school, and none for research or further reading, so when I visited in June I brought a raspberry pi computer with <a href="http://www.rachel.worldpossible.org/" target="_blank">downloaded content</a> such as Wikipedia and Khan Academy videos on it. &nbsp;As there is no electricity in the school they run this from a portable battery which they recharge in the headteacher's house which has solar panels.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But now Zeze has the opportunity to have a free satellite broadband installation, courtesy of funding from the UK Space Agency. &nbsp;Very few of the students have ever left the village. &nbsp;There are no female staff. The headteacher, Mr Mabhuye is very keen for the &nbsp;girls to have successful role models to boost their confidence. &nbsp;He is also keen to develop links with schools in the UK to expand their horizons and share ideas.&nbsp;</span><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-raAcnP0EVqI/VeXYbvFo5kI/AAAAAAAAM7k/A-2-I2kg2nU/s1600/20150817_105623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-raAcnP0EVqI/VeXYbvFo5kI/AAAAAAAAM7k/A-2-I2kg2nU/s320/20150817_105623.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However there is a catch. &nbsp;They need to install solar power in the school by the end of September in order to order to benefit from this offer. &nbsp;At a cost of £780 this is way beyond the scope of the school.<a href="https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/zezesolar" target="_blank"> If you would like to contribute to this project you can do so here. </a>&nbsp;All donations gratefully received.&nbsp;</span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-87273747260417326122015-07-01T22:48:00.001-07:002015-07-01T22:48:20.850-07:00Bees and Sunflowers in Zeze<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-96MLM6BW8U0/VY-8-0JbkTI/AAAAAAAAMuU/tpxFrNqJS5M/s1600/zezetree2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-96MLM6BW8U0/VY-8-0JbkTI/AAAAAAAAMuU/tpxFrNqJS5M/s320/zezetree2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was last with <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/investing-in-honey-production-in-zeze.html" target="_blank">Benedicto in Zeze in January</a>.&nbsp; Then he was talking about his dream of constructing bee hives to improve incomes in Zeze village.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, thanks to many of you the hives are in place.&nbsp; It hasn’t been without its challenges.&nbsp; Moving the wood was delayed due to flooding during the rainy season, which also led to delays in the wood drying out sufficiently to make the hives, but last week the remaining hives were hung in the trees near the Moringa field, making 63 in total.&nbsp; I’m glad I wasn’t here to witness this as it looked like a very precarious operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lMk_yfJwZ3A/VY-8vymG89I/AAAAAAAAMuM/2vDTlvFnTfk/s1600/zezetree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lMk_yfJwZ3A/VY-8vymG89I/AAAAAAAAMuM/2vDTlvFnTfk/s320/zezetree.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Already 12 hives are occupied by bees, and Benedicto is confident that by the end of July all the hives will be full, meaning they’ll be on track to harvest honey in October as planned.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SolJjbWpTEg/VZTM4Cj6c5I/AAAAAAAAMu0/vCszXTPhMsQ/s1600/20150627_152615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SolJjbWpTEg/VZTM4Cj6c5I/AAAAAAAAMu0/vCszXTPhMsQ/s320/20150627_152615.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In January a donor had given me £9 to give Benedicto, which he spent on Sunflower seeds.&nbsp; These he planted during the rainy season and has just harvested more than 10 times as many.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I (briefly) helped his father in shelling these, ready to press into oil to sell.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Benedicto never asks for money.&nbsp; I asked him why, as the sunflowers had been so successful, he isn’t planting more now. He explained he can only grow them in the rainy season as his land is far from water sources so irrigation is impossible now.&nbsp; When pressed on what he would need to do this he explains. &nbsp;If he digs down 25m with a spade he can borrow from his neighbour, he could set up a solar pump to power a drip irrigation scheme.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such a system would transform agriculture here, and with help from generous donors he will start this in July...I've been promised avocados next time I visit..&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-51874890168224651662015-06-27T09:26:00.000-07:002015-06-29T04:25:20.957-07:00Christina, the circumciser turned anti FGM activist<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LqsDzq_GfN0/VYZemTqvO3I/AAAAAAAAMsk/ESQjUGwvorc/s1600/20150615_145012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LqsDzq_GfN0/VYZemTqvO3I/AAAAAAAAMsk/ESQjUGwvorc/s320/20150615_145012.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was last at the Safe House <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/5-girls-bodies-thrown-into-bush.html" target="_blank">in early January</a>, just after the cutting season had finished.&nbsp; Most of the girls who had sought refuge then were slowly being reunited with their families.&nbsp; Sophia, the social worker and Rhobi, were painstakingly negotiating affidavits with the parents, guaranteeing that they would not cut their daughters or marry them against their will. With thirty four girls the parents refused to cooperate and so they remained at the Safe House.&nbsp; At that time these girls were very shy, and many visibly traumatised by their experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BeoJCTW7m34/VYZdxyGf_nI/AAAAAAAAMsA/58nkpjstqLo/s1600/20150615_091516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BeoJCTW7m34/VYZdxyGf_nI/AAAAAAAAMsA/58nkpjstqLo/s320/20150615_091516.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it is heart-warming to be back in Mugumu to see what a difference 5 months has made.&nbsp; There are now computer lessons in a room of 30 computers donated by a London school, and girls on the tailoring course are now selling items they have made in a shop on the premises.&nbsp; Girls who have never had the chance to go to school can now read and write.&nbsp; Their growth in confidence is astounding.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nbALpd0xsyk/VYZfH0dF5fI/AAAAAAAAMs0/XhNuxNAH360/s1600/20150616_140222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nbALpd0xsyk/VYZfH0dF5fI/AAAAAAAAMs0/XhNuxNAH360/s320/20150616_140222.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Tuesday the girls performed a song they&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">had composed about FGM to over 500 people at an event for International Day of the African Child.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ten of the girls passed their primary education and so attend the local secondary school.&nbsp; Their headmaster and teachers told me although they have missed a lot of education they are trying so hard they are sure they will catch up.&nbsp; I set up a projector </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_7BejuduU0/VYZd6izHxUI/AAAAAAAAMsI/l97ak5B7YDY/s1600/20150615_093114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_7BejuduU0/VYZd6izHxUI/AAAAAAAAMsI/l97ak5B7YDY/s320/20150615_093114.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and raspberry pi computer with content from <a href="http://rachel.worldpossible.org/" target="_blank">World Possible</a> in both the Safe House and the school so they can access Wikipedia and Khan Academy offline, giving them a huge range of educational content.&nbsp; I also set installed 200 Swahili and English e-books from <a href="http://www.africanstorybook.org/" target="_blank">African Storybook</a>.&nbsp; These were a great hit for girls who have never had access to books, as were the Swahili audiobooks and maths cartoons from <a href="http://ubongo.co.tz/" target="_blank">Ubongo. </a><o:p></o:p></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lopqTFPEjro/VYZf-Y_Z_7I/AAAAAAAAMtU/IeQPAIj8Y4U/s1600/20150617_172612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lopqTFPEjro/VYZf-Y_Z_7I/AAAAAAAAMtU/IeQPAIj8Y4U/s320/20150617_172612.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Word games my sister in law donated like scrabble and Headbanz where players have to ask yes no questions to guess the card on their head caused great hilarity and enabled girls to practice their English in a fun way...<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3q60UZ2CHU/VYZfZClT3cI/AAAAAAAAMs8/TkL6N2ULrjI/s1600/20150616_163641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3q60UZ2CHU/VYZfZClT3cI/AAAAAAAAMs8/TkL6N2ULrjI/s320/20150616_163641.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also met Christina, a circumciser, who has previously cut girls in the local village of Kebanchabancha.&nbsp; She witnessed the anti FGM road show Rhobi organised in her village and decided to stop cutting and publicly destroyed her tools.&nbsp; This cost her dearly, she lost her source of income her husband divorced her, and she has had to move away from the village due to the pressure of people trying to persuade her to change her mind.&nbsp; However she told me she did not regret her decision and now plans to become a peer educator helping persuade other circumcisers follow her lead.</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF5A8oVCCBI&amp;feature=em-share_video_user" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">You can hear her story here.</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, the tide is turning..<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the Safe House still faces huge challenges.&nbsp; Now it is known as a place of refuge, the local police bring people here who have nowhere else to go..&nbsp; Lucy, an albino rape victim, Sophia and Veronica, two abandoned children and Msambo with her baby, beaten so badly by her husband that she lost 3 teeth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yIbd1Qr31B0/VYZgZDo8dII/AAAAAAAAMtk/KjIGZALenAU/s1600/20150617_173118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yIbd1Qr31B0/VYZgZDo8dII/AAAAAAAAMtk/KjIGZALenAU/s320/20150617_173118.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It still needs a perimeter fence, to stop people wandering in, a dining hall and kitchen, and a car, so that girls in the villages can be reached, and there is not a repeat of the incident in December when the car broke down so 5 escaping girls were captured by their parents..<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, <a href="http://globalgiving.co.uk/projects/safe-house-training-centre-tanzania/" target="_blank">if you are able to help</a>, everyone at the Safe House, and the girls at risk of FGM in Serengeti would be extremely grateful..</span><o:p></o:p></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-82628248793173147852015-06-21T00:47:00.000-07:002015-06-21T00:47:17.974-07:00A library on an SD card – for less than a fiver…<br /><div class="MsoNormal">I met Omar in Itongoitale, a small village an hour out of Shinyanga.&nbsp; He teaches Geography and History in the primary school here.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hvE3Ly9XAXA/VYZb6SqNjjI/AAAAAAAAMrE/1RAxxFqCZ3w/s1600/20150608_125356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hvE3Ly9XAXA/VYZb6SqNjjI/AAAAAAAAMrE/1RAxxFqCZ3w/s320/20150608_125356.jpg" width="320" /></a>Itongolitale has no electricity and the only water supply is from ponds shared with cattle.&nbsp; There is no mobile signal and only very occasional minibuses into town.&nbsp; Some people have radios but batteries are scarce, only five people have solar.&nbsp; So many people are entirely cut off from the outside world.&nbsp; They rarely have the means to leave the village, and were not even aware of the Tanzanian election happening in October.&nbsp; If there is a death, or other newsworthy event, in the next village, someone will walk the 15km to come and tell people face to face..</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IOc47KoUyOQ/VYZdWE0YpQI/AAAAAAAAMrw/f6uGXT-dg24/s1600/20150606_110102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IOc47KoUyOQ/VYZdWE0YpQI/AAAAAAAAMrw/f6uGXT-dg24/s320/20150606_110102.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Malaria and water borne diseases are rife.&nbsp; People don’t boil or treat their water and there has never been a deworming programme here.&nbsp; I was told that the water was safe for them because they are used to it but it would be dangerous for me. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">There are no computers in the village, and Omar has never used one.&nbsp; But they teach IT in the school – by drawing pictures of keyboards and hard drives on the blackboard…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jxiEX40tAJs/VYZcdoIWQDI/AAAAAAAAMrY/gU2VzWLYWTE/s1600/20150605_134128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jxiEX40tAJs/VYZcdoIWQDI/AAAAAAAAMrY/gU2VzWLYWTE/s320/20150605_134128.jpg" width="320" /></a>Omar told me he liked reading, so I asked him to show me his books.&nbsp; He had three:&nbsp; a Swahili/English dictionary, a photocopy of a university text book on African History, and a Geography text book for 13 year olds.&nbsp; Yet Omar is very affluent by the standards of the village.&nbsp; He has a smart phone which he uses when he goes into town each month to pick up his salary.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--158Hik9BYU/VYZbojF7wXI/AAAAAAAAMt4/9aeDSw3ggMs/s1600/20150621_093327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--158Hik9BYU/VYZbojF7wXI/AAAAAAAAMt4/9aeDSw3ggMs/s320/20150621_093327.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I gave him a 16Gb sd card for his phone, with hundreds of ebooks in <a href="http://www.africanstorybook.org/" target="_blank">Swahili and English</a>, plus health videos from<a href="http://tme.org.uk/" target="_blank"> Thare Machi</a> on avoiding malaria and the need to boil drinking water. He promised to share this content in the school, and as we left he was proudly demonstrating it to a colleague..</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">A library on an SD card in a village without computers – cost:&nbsp; less than £5..<o:p></o:p></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-13946675623059895332015-02-09T04:52:00.000-08:002015-11-13T11:44:33.021-08:00Raspberry Pi in Masekelo<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><i>Bringing Wikipedia to a school without electricity</i></b></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jgz9BoyFDkE/VNir0NE-6HI/AAAAAAAAMS0/27upqg4C26Q/s1600/pi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jgz9BoyFDkE/VNir0NE-6HI/AAAAAAAAMS0/27upqg4C26Q/s1600/pi.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Masekelo secondary school in Shinyanga has many challenges: there's no electricity or water, so each pupil needs to collect 5 litres of water each day and carry it to school.&nbsp; Until Tanzania Development Trust gave them a grant in November there were insufficient desks or chairs and many had to sit on the dirt floor.</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U1Avnd_q190/VNmWMb70WFI/AAAAAAAAMTU/r3J5uE_1Lr4/s1600/masekeo%2Bscience%2Blab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U1Avnd_q190/VNmWMb70WFI/AAAAAAAAMTU/r3J5uE_1Lr4/s1600/masekeo%2Bscience%2Blab.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">The government has decreed that every secondary school must have science laboratories by the end of February.&nbsp; No money was provided for this ; they should come from.parental contributions alone.&nbsp; When your parents are subsistence farmers this is challenging.</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></span></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfcBEWHnPDE/VNisgnZHqyI/AAAAAAAAMS8/-Oi4io9Cfbs/s1600/rpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfcBEWHnPDE/VNisgnZHqyI/AAAAAAAAMS8/-Oi4io9Cfbs/s1600/rpi.jpg" width="112" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">The school has few text books or resources and a dire shortage of maths and science teachers,&nbsp; but the dedication of its headteacher and staff now mean they have the best results of any government school in the district.</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">When I visited in September the dynamic headteacher,&nbsp; Steve Mihambo,&nbsp; told me of his dream of a computer room,&nbsp; once they had power.</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">So I brought a Raspberry Pi computer, run from an external battery, with a 32gb SD card with content downloaded from <a href="http://www.worldpossible.org/rachel/" target="_blank">WorldPossible</a>.&nbsp; This includes Wikipedia schools edition,&nbsp; 2000 maths and science videos from Khan academy,&nbsp; 800 classic books and various health resources.&nbsp; A wifi stick in the Pi means any nearby smartphone, tablet or laptop can access all this content.</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></span></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jd9--Ja9m5M/VNmV2aPo8NI/AAAAAAAAMTM/yi75tSF8rtg/s1600/masekelo%2Bpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jd9--Ja9m5M/VNmV2aPo8NI/AAAAAAAAMTM/yi75tSF8rtg/s1600/masekelo%2Bpi.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">I demonstrated this to the teachers and school board on the 5 donated tablets I'd brought,&nbsp; plus a couple of staff phones.&nbsp; They were astounded.&nbsp; "It's like a miracle", said the board chair.&nbsp; "Now we are in the 21st century", added a teacher.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">You can follow the progress of this project, and the school in general, on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Masekelo?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook Page</a>.</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">If you would like to know more,&nbsp; or have an unneeded tablet or laptop you'd like to go to a good home,&nbsp; please email me at <b>j.chapman@tanzdevtrust.org</b></span></span><br /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br /></span></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-44271311987504628392015-01-31T22:12:00.001-08:002015-02-03T09:13:08.053-08:00Investing in honey production in Zeze village<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Transforming rural lives with bees..</i></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3BuPJJDhayw/VMyhhIRdi1I/AAAAAAAAMKA/gppZMNmBOFE/s1600/Benedicto%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3BuPJJDhayw/VMyhhIRdi1I/AAAAAAAAMKA/gppZMNmBOFE/s1600/Benedicto%2B.jpg" height="200" width="112" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I first met Benedicto by chance <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.com/2014/09/transforming-zeze-village-with.html" target="_blank">in September</a> and was very impressed by the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MVGZeze?ref=bookmarks" target="_blank">cooperative he founded</a> and his meticulously costed plans to avert poverty in his village by developing agriculture. &nbsp;I returned to Zeze this week and spent two nights in the village finding out more.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uzbEOvh5YTY/VMyiO8ndp0I/AAAAAAAAMKI/MUHvchS82yY/s1600/20150129_181320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uzbEOvh5YTY/VMyiO8ndp0I/AAAAAAAAMKI/MUHvchS82yY/s1600/20150129_181320.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zeze is 41km from the nearest town and electricity supply. &nbsp;Water is problematic. &nbsp;Almost all of the inhabitants are farmers growing maize and beans, with an average annual income per family of around 300,000 shillings (£112). &nbsp; This explains why many of the children have ragged clothes and no shoes.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Benedicto and his group have many plans to raise income, including growing more lucrative crops such as Moringa. &nbsp;Currently his immediate concern is to put in hives before March 15th when the bees begin to swarm. He has worked out that by sourcing the wood from one farmer and carrying it on foot to the local fundi he can get the hives made for around £20 each. &nbsp;He estimates each hive will generate <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6508709454242586363#editor/target=page;pageID=6446350484195353634;onPublishedMenu=pages;onClosedMenu=pages;postNum=0;src=pagename" target="_blank">30 litres of honey</a> and he has already found buyers willing to buy in bulk. &nbsp;Therefore when he harvests in October he should be able to make a good profit that can be used to support projects in the village.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His problem is capital. &nbsp;He has identified </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pxiE0BRM_gU/VM3C8wGKqGI/AAAAAAAAMKw/An0gDIrejPI/s1600/beehives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pxiE0BRM_gU/VM3C8wGKqGI/AAAAAAAAMKw/An0gDIrejPI/s1600/beehives.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">150 good sites for hives. Currently he has funds for 15 hives. &nbsp;He would like to set up at least 40. &nbsp;Therefore he is offering anyone who invests £20 in a hive now a return of £25 in November when the honey is sold. &nbsp;That's a return on investment far better than your bank, and a good cause to boot.. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you would like to invest in a hive in Zeze village, or to know more about this project please email j.chapman@tanzdevtrust.org.</span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-80343632771499423872015-01-19T04:31:00.000-08:002015-01-20T09:18:00.513-08:005 girls bodies thrown into the bush<br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FWrL1nyJwOk/VLy74D03CII/AAAAAAAAMEI/TsafsZwp8Yw/s1600/20150118_181238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FWrL1nyJwOk/VLy74D03CII/AAAAAAAAMEI/TsafsZwp8Yw/s1600/20150118_181238.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><i><b>An update from our <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/16/what-is-female-genital-mutilation-circumcision-us" target="_blank">FGM</a> safe house in Mugumu, and the girls who didn't reach it</b></i></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">I &nbsp;first met <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/rhobis-story-why-she-cares-so.html" target="_blank">Rhobi </a>in September at the <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/meeting-rhobi-at-safe-house-in-mugumu.html" target="_blank">Safe House in Mugumu</a> which was then a building site,&nbsp; and had the privilege of witnessing some of her <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/on-road-with-rhobis-anti-fgm-work-in.html" target="_blank">anti FGM</a> work in the surrounding villages.&nbsp; At these girls spoke movingly of the dangers of this traditional practice and their desire to avoid being cut.</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Driving into the lit up compound which is the Safe House today with Rhobi,&nbsp; we were met by 32 laughing girls running to hug Rhobi shouting mama, mama.</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">These are the lucky ones.&nbsp; During the cutting season which ended on January 15th,&nbsp; there were 134 girls sheltering here.&nbsp; They had run from their homes, often at night,&nbsp; with just the clothes they were wearing.&nbsp; Often they had been beaten by their fathers for their refusal.&nbsp; One 10 year old, Bhoke,&nbsp; was found lying on the ground unable to stand as her legs had been so badly cut by her father's machete. She spent 2 weeks in hospital </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BOBGzUh_z5I/VLy8ZnwWeyI/AAAAAAAAMEQ/ZKwdrDXBF94/s1600/20150118_160321_Unnamed%2BRd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BOBGzUh_z5I/VLy8ZnwWeyI/AAAAAAAAMEQ/ZKwdrDXBF94/s1600/20150118_160321_Unnamed%2BRd.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">and he is due in court today.</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br style="line-height: 21.2999992370605px;" /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Other girls failed to escape. &nbsp;Seven girls escaped and a volunteer was bringing them to the safe house when his car broke down&nbsp;and their relatives captured them. &nbsp;Two of them managed to escape again. &nbsp;They ran all through the night and managed to reach the safe house, but the other five were cut.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Five &nbsp;girls in&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Machochwe village died during the cutting. &nbsp;As is the custom, their bodies were thrown into the bush at the edge of the village as they are thought to be cursed. &nbsp;Their families are not allowed to grieve or ever mention them again, it is as if they never existed. &nbsp;One girl from Machochwe, Elizabeth, managed to escape. &nbsp;She is desperate to continue her education and wants to be a nurse. &nbsp;She fears if she returns she will be badly beaten by her father and married immediately. &nbsp;</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O_6tPypQM-Y/VLy9LVUparI/AAAAAAAAMEg/TRLUocAziLI/s1600/20150118_130619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O_6tPypQM-Y/VLy9LVUparI/AAAAAAAAMEg/TRLUocAziLI/s1600/20150118_130619.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">The cutting season began on 8th December and ended on January 15th. &nbsp;The 134 girls in the safe house had a graduation c</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">eremony as alternative rite of passage, at which they sang songs they had composed about the dangers of FGM and their desire for an education. &nbsp;After this 102 girls returned home, after their families had signed an undertaking not to cut them.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;"><br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DvS5FlQbjTE/VLy97QeeS4I/AAAAAAAAMEw/-yrlw6S-XK8/s1600/20150118_093257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DvS5FlQbjTE/VLy97QeeS4I/AAAAAAAAMEw/-yrlw6S-XK8/s1600/20150118_093257.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px;">Of the 32 girls remaining, 22 will start on a tailoring course this week. &nbsp;The other 10, who have passed their primary exams , are desperate to continue their education. &nbsp;They know that if they return home they are in&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">danger of violence and will not be able to go to school. &nbsp;Today we will meet with the District Education Officer to try and secure secondary school places and try to find the approximately £45 needed &nbsp;for their school fees and uniforms. If you would like to support this please <a href="http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/safe-house-training-centre-tanzania/" target="_blank">click here</a>.</span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-15730399148839253142014-12-07T03:03:00.002-08:002014-12-07T03:03:36.940-08:00Twelve more girls arrived during the night..<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Our Safe House struggles to cope with the demand from girls refusing Female Genital Mutilation in December's cutting season..</b></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NqKKlvVeMXw/VIQureQRMMI/AAAAAAAAL5g/KheLW2pvG84/s1600/Rhobi%2BLondon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NqKKlvVeMXw/VIQureQRMMI/AAAAAAAAL5g/KheLW2pvG84/s1600/Rhobi%2BLondon.jpg" height="195" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi Samwelly, our local rep in Mara province, is an <a href="http://hiaragirlpower.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/rhobis-story-why-she-cares-so.html">FGM survivor herself,</a> and the drive behind our successful Safe House campaign. &nbsp;A week into the cutting season, with the building unfinished, they are struggling to cope with 80 girls seeking refuge, with 12 arriving last night alone..</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Here is a message I received from Rhobi via What's App this morning..</b></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The situation is challenging! The safe house can accommodate 40 girls but now we have more and we are still receiving girls in order to protect them. So we are also using the Vocational Training Centre classes to accommodate other girls. We have only 40 mattress. Still the safe house doesn't have a kitchen or dining hall.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L8UlrWd0BS4/VIQzUlHw_UI/AAAAAAAAL6I/JQNwDjvsSAk/s1600/IMG-20141206-WA0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L8UlrWd0BS4/VIQzUlHw_UI/AAAAAAAAL6I/JQNwDjvsSAk/s1600/IMG-20141206-WA0003.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The situation of girls when arriving is not good, that some they don't have shoes, with torn clothes,&nbsp; some are psychologically affected. So we need some basic needs like clothes, shoes, toothbrushes, soap,&nbsp; sanitary towels etc. Another challenge is that the safe house doesn't have a car which could help managing collecting girls from different areas without breaking down while the girls are inside! This is very dangerous in the bush girls could be taken away to their parents for FGM.&nbsp; The increased number of girls in the centre affects everything planned eg. food, bedsheets, blankets&nbsp; etc. I would like to thank the local churches and mosques which are contributing food for girls in the centre.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-61NGmV9JgLs/VIQzUfnfmgI/AAAAAAAAL58/sIRQtdhRJP0/s1600/IMG-20141206-WA0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-61NGmV9JgLs/VIQzUfnfmgI/AAAAAAAAL58/sIRQtdhRJP0/s1600/IMG-20141206-WA0000.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of girls are orphans&nbsp; and are in secondary schools in their wards! Their relatives threaten them if they refuse to undergo FGM and threaten not to pay their school fees and other needs. We thank the government for provision of security from the villages where the girls are collected to the safe house.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The girls received at the safe house are still in Secondary schools and primary schools.&nbsp;We have started to provide tuition for them at the safe house but we still do not have enough funds to pay the teachers. <br />Thank you very much for the supporting of the safe house as it is important for girls protection. We have received nine girls from Tarime district.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />We would be happy to receive more support in order to overcome the challenges.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>If you would like to support the Safe House you can do so <a href="http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/safe-house-training-centre-tanzania/">here. &nbsp;</a></b></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here is a message from one of the girls at the Safe House:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jq2C_Ns9_oU/VIQzUtPej1I/AAAAAAAAL6A/ww7kizrQQIU/s1600/IMG-20141206-WA0004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jq2C_Ns9_oU/VIQzUtPej1I/AAAAAAAAL6A/ww7kizrQQIU/s1600/IMG-20141206-WA0004.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My name is Angelina Nginge, I am&nbsp; 15 years old and I come from Magatini village at Kenyamonta Ward in Serengeti district. This year my father wanted to&nbsp;conduct FGM on me. Due to the trainings that I got at school on the effects of FGM through the Anglican church Diocese of Mara, I decided to escape from home with the help of one of my teachers. I went to the safe house with the help of my teacher who provided a bedroom to sleep on the night I escaped home .Currently I am a form&nbsp; one student at ACT-BUNDA Girls secondary school. I sincerely thank the ACT MARA for the safe house if it was not for them I do not know where would I have gone.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-30029993648047983372014-11-17T09:19:00.005-08:002016-02-08T04:14:25.966-08:00A tale of two teenagers, studying by candlelight<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SDo4ah-6FXQ/VGotdo3CpvI/AAAAAAAAL4U/so-rNoTvaX8/s1600/studying%2Bcandle.jpg" /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Grace is 15 and she wants to be a doctor.&nbsp; She walks 3 hours each way to school from her village in rural Tanzania. &nbsp;When she gets home she has to collect water and firewood for cooking before she can study by candlelight.&nbsp; Sometimes her parents can afford kerosene for a brighter light but this hurts her eyes and makes her cough. &nbsp;Her parents are subsistence farmers and cannot afford a<b> £6</b> solar light.&nbsp; There are 72 students in her class and they haven’t had a science teacher for 6 months.&nbsp; There are a few text books in her school which she copies from when she can, but they often use English words she doesn’t understand and there is no one to help her.</span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">When I met Grace in her school in September she had never used a computer or the internet.&nbsp; I brought out a hard drive packed with downloaded Open Educational Resources like Wikipedia, Khan Academy and health materials, collated by <a href="http://rachel.worldpossible.org/">World Possible</a>&nbsp;so they can be used offline. &nbsp;Grace was transfixed by the videos explaining the circulatory system.&nbsp; She loved being able to stop and rewind the bits she&nbsp;didn't&nbsp;fully understand first time.&nbsp; On <a href="http://rachel.worldpossible.org/wikip/index.htm">Wikipedia for schools</a> she was mesmerised by how clicking on links brought up so much detail and how she could look up words she didn't understand with a simple click. She said with access to such information it would be impossible to fail.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5zk2ns-AfD4/VGotdrFM0CI/AAAAAAAAL4M/XOWcZhI6ewo/s1600/Studying%2Bipad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5zk2ns-AfD4/VGotdrFM0CI/AAAAAAAAL4M/XOWcZhI6ewo/s1600/Studying%2Bipad.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Lucy is also 15 and aspiring to be a doctor.&nbsp; She too studies by candlelight, but that’s because the smell of the&nbsp;scent helps her concentrate. She has a computer in her room but generally prefers using her iPad.&nbsp; Her science teacher posts useful links on the school intranet and she often collaborates on homework with her friends on Facebook. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">I am going back to Tanzania in January to help more girls like Grace, taking with me&nbsp;<span style="background: white;">taking with me donated tablets that I will pre-load with Open Educational Resources content</span>&nbsp;- if you have any surplus devices lying around please let me know and I’ll&nbsp;ensure they are put to good use!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lq3X95W8BXU/VGotdngqi7I/AAAAAAAAL4I/XzXW8NZw49Q/s1600/solar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lq3X95W8BXU/VGotdngqi7I/AAAAAAAAL4I/XzXW8NZw49Q/s1600/solar.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">I am also buying <b>£6</b> solar lights - if you would like to buy one as a good gift this Christmas there is information <a href="http://www.tanzdevtrust.org/app/images/projects/Give%20the%20gift%20of%20light%20to%20a%20Tanzanian%20student%20this%20Christmas.pdf">here.</a>&nbsp;and you can <a href="https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/solarlights?" target="_blank">buy one here.</a>&nbsp;</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">I volunteer for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tanzdevtrust.org/">Tanzania Development Trust</a>,&nbsp;a small&nbsp;volunteer run&nbsp;charity - all donations are spent entirely on projects. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">If you have a tablet that you would like to see put to good use in Tanzania please email me: <b><u>j.chapman@tanzdevtrust.org&nbsp;</u></b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-86135106702107666482014-10-16T08:02:00.000-07:002017-02-19T05:47:00.062-08:00Tackling inequality in Zeze village with sustainable agriculture<br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><b><i>Building rural livelihoods and eliminating poverty in Tanzania...</i></b></span><br /><br />I<span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> met <a href="https://www.one.org/international/blog/how-a-community-is-feeding-its-people-by-nurturing-the-land/">Benedicto Hosea</a> by chance. A well wisher from England who he'd met online had been so impressed with his drive to improve life in his village she'd asked me to take out a camera to him.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZBeJIRLJBRI/VBQApMsrVGI/AAAAAAAAKZw/cIMdAAYM-eI/s1600/20140912_170358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZBeJIRLJBRI/VBQApMsrVGI/AAAAAAAAKZw/cIMdAAYM-eI/s1600/20140912_170358.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">When we met he talked with such passion and knowledge about the youth organisation he had set up in his village of Zeze I was convinced to take a one day detour along dusty, potholed roads to take a look.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Benedicto is the first in his family to go to secondary school, let alone university. When he finished his degree in in November he returned to Zeze and set up an organisation &nbsp;to counter its poverty and malnutrition. &nbsp;Mboni ya Vijana (it means "the eyes of youth" in Swahili) is small but committed and growing month by month. &nbsp;Its members who pay monthly subscriptions of 5000 shillings (about £1.50) to buy bulk seeds and farming equipment . Even this modest amount is often a struggle for these subsistence farmers and they have to sometimes borrow from each other. &nbsp;They are worried about the costs but excited about the possibilities. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cg-MGQ0tz3E/VBQI-tMjNMI/AAAAAAAAKao/du9ICVwWVDg/s1600/20140912_143700_B%2B381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cg-MGQ0tz3E/VBQI-tMjNMI/AAAAAAAAKao/du9ICVwWVDg/s1600/20140912_143700_B%2B381.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Even with this small capital they are transforming lives.&nbsp; Changing practices have doubled maize yields,&nbsp; growing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera" target="_blank">nutritional wonder plant Moringa</a> will bring in 4 times their current income. &nbsp;This means children will be able to go to school, needed medicine bought and villages won't go to bed hungry so often. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">They have big plans: bee hives, a cassava processor,&nbsp; pumping water from a nearby stream in the dry season,&nbsp; all meticulously researched and costed. Benedicto lives in a village without electricity but every night he walks through the rural darkness with his laptop to find a neighbour with charge from a solar panel or generator. He works from 2am, when the mobile signal is strongest. Discussing best irrigation techniques with farmers from El Salvador,&nbsp; negotiating prices with moringa processors, and planning....</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Next week they are holding their training camp in Zeze to keep spreading the word..</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">With 40% of Tanzanian children stunted by malnutrition,&nbsp; it's a timely message.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">MVG are new to social media so please like them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MVGZeze" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and follow them on <a href="https://twitter.com/mbonivijana" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.&nbsp; You can hear Benedicto <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha0MdwJMI9U" target="_blank">explain his ideas here</a>. &nbsp;If you would like to invest in them please email me at j.chapman@tanzdevtrust.org&nbsp;</span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-52694042682737041022014-09-10T21:22:00.004-07:002014-11-12T05:48:39.651-08:00Supporting vulnerable girls in Tabora, and BINGO, Tanzanian style<a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-6Ewt5pFsJOQ%2FVAu5jr0J4kI%2FAAAAAAAAKUA%2FzTl6Co7QxmA%2Fs1600%2F20140906_160814.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6Ewt5pFsJOQ/VAu5jr0J4kI/AAAAAAAAKUA/zTl6Co7QxmA/s1600/20140906_160814.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6Ewt5pFsJOQ/VAu5jr0J4kI/AAAAAAAAKUA/zTl6Co7QxmA/s1600/20140906_160814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Rebuilding confidence through games...</b></i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/philemon.gassembe/photos" target="_blank">Philemon Boyo</a> is one reason why working with <a href="http://www.tanzdevtrust.org/" target="_blank">Tanzania Development Trust</a> is so rewarding. &nbsp;He works tirelessly, for no money, to nurture and support vulnerable girls in his neighbourhood in Tabora.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Together with 60 other volunteers he has set up Fair Education and Information Centre, FADICE, They work here seven days a week teaching vulnerable girls skills in tailoring, rearing chickens and </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kuNMizGTAEY/VAu5h_x_zBI/AAAAAAAAKT4/z6krtbh3VaM/s1600/20140906_155744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kuNMizGTAEY/VAu5h_x_zBI/AAAAAAAAKT4/z6krtbh3VaM/s1600/20140906_155744.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">horticulture so they can help support themselves and in many cases their dependent children.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Challenges are huge. &nbsp;Many of the girls are traumatised by the abuse they have suffered so much of FADICE's work is to rebuild their confidence and self esteem. &nbsp;Sometimes girls get so depressed by the poverty and challenge in their lives they lose hope, but Philemon does not give up on them. </span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PcJuSZWvfQg/VAu5z49f_kI/AAAAAAAAKUg/ylJ5DgiOKyY/s1600/20140906_163438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PcJuSZWvfQg/VAu5z49f_kI/AAAAAAAAKUg/ylJ5DgiOKyY/s1600/20140906_163438.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We visited some of the girls in their homes, together with </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">some girls still in primary school that Philemon is concerned about. &nbsp;One of them, Mary, is 13 year old HIV positive orphan, living with her grandmother. &nbsp;We visited mainly as a signal to the surrounding community that FADICE is looking out for her and if anyone causes her harm they will be answerable to them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IxTj3krDsiM/VAu518hu2WI/AAAAAAAAKUo/Ei_otEpnUaA/s1600/20140906_173937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IxTj3krDsiM/VAu518hu2WI/AAAAAAAAKUo/Ei_otEpnUaA/s1600/20140906_173937.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evelyn is a single parent looking after her 4 children alone after her abusive husband disappeared, plus her dead sister's child. &nbsp;She had her first child at 13 and cannot read or write. &nbsp;She scrapes an existence using small scale loans of £1.50 to make snacks to sell door to door. &nbsp;This is via a Womens' Entrepeneur Group also supported by FADICE.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may think such work would be demoralising, but Philemon was permanently positive, with an infectious laugh and ready humour.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On my last day FADICE organised a party for the girls and their care</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QPvP_FCiefU/VA3XFZI0nwI/AAAAAAAAKWA/L0zpBXut2rU/s1600/20140907_153657.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QPvP_FCiefU/VA3XFZI0nwI/AAAAAAAAKWA/L0zpBXut2rU/s1600/20140907_153657.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">givers. &nbsp;I was guest of honour and was serenaded in and out of the room and had to lead the dancing!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The climax of the party was a game of BINGO, Tanzanian style. &nbsp;Rather than lines and numbers, this turned out to be a raucous game involving running around and then suddenly hurling yourselves into groups of a specified number. &nbsp;Not understanding Swahili I was at rather a disadvantage, but it didn't seem to matter.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Philemon uses this game, and others, to build cooperation, thinking skills and self esteem, and also, just for fun.. He explains, happily, that the girls are unrecognisable from when they started at the centre 2 months ago.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can find out about more about this and other Tanzania Development Trust projects <a href="http://www.tanzdevtrust.org/" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;and my full itinerary is <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kYh7KTCan3pr_VAoB5QN-74hVSvGNuirs2li8mapg-8/edit?usp=sharing">here.</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-26678602004482115322014-09-06T19:03:00.000-07:002014-10-12T02:25:50.317-07:00Rhobi's Story - why she cares so passionately about #FGM<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXdyXWiKClo/VAaJpo98XEI/AAAAAAAAKLQ/x93j9CvnovE/s1600/20140901_172014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXdyXWiKClo/VAaJpo98XEI/AAAAAAAAKLQ/x93j9CvnovE/s1600/20140901_172014.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>One woman's personal story about FGM...</b></i></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi Samwelly is <a href="http://www.tanzdevtrust.org/" target="_blank">Tanzania Development Trust's</a> local representative in Mara region and the inspiration and powerhouse behind the <a href="http://globalgiving.co.uk/projects/safe-house-training-centre-tanzania/" target="_blank">Safe House project.</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi's passion for helping girls at risk of <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/" target="_blank">Female Genital Mutilation</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;&nbsp;FGM is immediately obvious.However I did not at first realise just how personal this campaign is for her.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi grew up in a small village in Mara. Her father was from the Kurya tribe and her mother Masai. &nbsp;When she was 11 she remembers a number of girls from the village going off to have FGM and one of them died. &nbsp;Tradition dictates that if a girl dies during the procedure she cannot be buried, but instead her body is thrown in the bushes to be eaten by wild animals. &nbsp;Rhobi understandably was very upset by this.</span><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PUZo3DJLhtw/VAaSJMlNBOI/AAAAAAAAKMQ/H3xKbgI5KBY/s1600/20140902_145714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PUZo3DJLhtw/VAaSJMlNBOI/AAAAAAAAKMQ/H3xKbgI5KBY/s1600/20140902_145714.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When she was 13 Rhobi was told by her parents it was her time for FGM. &nbsp; She pleaded with her mother but was told "it is our tradition and you must undergo it" &nbsp;She was also told that if she didn't comply she would never marry and the family would not be respected in the community. &nbsp;</span><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ojewMXPd75Y/VAu1svqVT2I/AAAAAAAAKSs/Vg_fH0Ngohs/s1600/20140903_132301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ojewMXPd75Y/VAu1svqVT2I/AAAAAAAAKSs/Vg_fH0Ngohs/s1600/20140903_132301.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi seriously considered running away but had nowhere to go. &nbsp;All of her relatives would have supported her parents. She had no option but to go ahead. &nbsp;Her grandfather had paid for a special&nbsp;circumciser for her from the next village, but she did it slowly and badly and Rhobi lost so much blood she lost&nbsp;consciousness, &nbsp;Her family and neighbours were all crying and thought she was dying. &nbsp;They were still too scared of being arrested to take her to a hospital. &nbsp;Miraculously she pulled through. &nbsp;Although she was angry with her family she agreed to forgive them if they promised not to cut her sisters, which they did. &nbsp;</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vA5an9wEZic/VAaIyi6cvNI/AAAAAAAAKKo/zbt-eKj6gjw/s1600/20140902_140319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vA5an9wEZic/VAaIyi6cvNI/AAAAAAAAKKo/zbt-eKj6gjw/s1600/20140902_140319.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite this trauma, Rhobi did very well at school and was awarded a place at a prestigious secondary school. &nbsp;This didn't stop her grandfather saying "Why do you insist on going to school, you should marry and get your father cows". &nbsp;Ironically this pressure ceased the following year when he was gored to death by a cow when returning from market.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi excelled at secondary school and qualified to be a teacher. &nbsp;When she returned home her parents told her they had arranged her marriage and had already accepted the cows. &nbsp;She cried for a week but finally felt she had no choice but to go through with the marriage. &nbsp;She refused to have a ceremony though, as that would have sacrificed a cow and meant she could not have left the marriage in the future without paying it back.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, Rhobi and her husband have a daughter of their</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BksOKUm2nEA/VAYNJT3cciI/AAAAAAAAKJg/RoUW6M1RRhI/s1600/20140902_171104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BksOKUm2nEA/VAYNJT3cciI/AAAAAAAAKJg/RoUW6M1RRhI/s1600/20140902_171104.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> own, and she still has battles with her mother in law about inflicting FGM on her. &nbsp;She tells her that if your&nbsp;daughter&nbsp;has not been cut her&nbsp;father cannot sit with the traditional elders.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The traditional elders carry great weight in the village. &nbsp;They meet under a specific tree and no-one else is allowed to pass anywhere near, unless they are summoned. &nbsp;They dispense justice and punishment and if you deny a charge they will make you drink a truth drug from a skull. &nbsp;Women can only approach the tree on their knees.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The elders in Maguri village in Serengeti summoned Rhobi to attend. &nbsp;She said she would not attend the tree but eventually persuaded them to meet her in the school. &nbsp;They were hostile to her anti FGM advocacy but eventually she managed to persuade them and they are now supportive of her campaign.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbJ2RirBfKA/VAaJV6sQzTI/AAAAAAAAKLA/rVD4bJiG_68/s1600/20140901_172309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbJ2RirBfKA/VAaJV6sQzTI/AAAAAAAAKLA/rVD4bJiG_68/s1600/20140901_172309.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">December is the cutting season which is why it is so important the Safe House in Mugumu is completed by then, &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can read more about the campaign <a href="http://globalgiving.co.uk/projects/safe-house-training-centre-tanzania/" target="_blank">here,</a>&nbsp;and come and meet Rhobi when she is speaking at the <a href="http://www.tanzdevtrust.org//app/images/projects/House%20of%20Commons%20APPG%20invitation.pdf" target="_blank">Houses of Parliament on Wednesday October 15th&nbsp;</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-48668252270977914542014-09-04T11:34:00.005-07:002014-10-12T02:25:18.376-07:00On the road with Rhobi's anti FGM work in Serengeti villages<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s2ipzTgn8Mo/VAaRME8vv4I/AAAAAAAAKL4/wMHe25MO-wY/s1600/20140902_115821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s2ipzTgn8Mo/VAaRME8vv4I/AAAAAAAAKL4/wMHe25MO-wY/s1600/20140902_115821.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></a><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b><i>Meeting the girls Rhobi is trying to protect...</i></b></span><br /><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;We were three hours late leaving because Rhobi was dealing with a woman who had walked twenty miles from her village carrying a sick child into Mugumu, the nearest place she could get medical attention. &nbsp;Tragically&nbsp;this delay cost the child’s life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Six of us crammed into the car with a generator, speakers, mixers and random luggage and set off along the pot holed roads to Monuna village.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fa9GdN8bMV0/VAaRD0aX3JI/AAAAAAAAKLw/l9amfejomMM/s1600/20140902_125054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fa9GdN8bMV0/VAaRD0aX3JI/AAAAAAAAKLw/l9amfejomMM/s1600/20140902_125054.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Even though we were so late the peer educators and a large group of villagers were waiting for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">After signing the obligatory visitors’ book in the ward officer’s room and greeting the village chairman and other village leaders we were led to a row of chairs in the shade of the tree.&nbsp; After we had all been introduced and made short speeches the peer gender educators started to sing and dance with their group of traditional instruments.&nbsp; </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-93V_ZfTL40E/VAYOMgUaoSI/AAAAAAAAKKA/8Q9byPxcCQk/s1600/20140902_153456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-93V_ZfTL40E/VAYOMgUaoSI/AAAAAAAAKKA/8Q9byPxcCQk/s1600/20140902_153456.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Each song carried relevant messages such as value your daughters and don’t seek cows.&nbsp; (Generally fathers receive cows as a bride price when their daughters marry).<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Rhobi has trained 4 peer gender educators, 2 men and 2 women, to work in the community.&nbsp; They had 5 days training in Mugumu town, 20 miles away, the first time they had been so far out of the village.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">After the singing the community forum began on the topic &nbsp;of "Is it true that early marriage has health effects on girls"&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--pOJMPomqSM/VAaSmaVWM9I/AAAAAAAAKMg/Txijt_xxWzg/s1600/20140902_140319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--pOJMPomqSM/VAaSmaVWM9I/AAAAAAAAKMg/Txijt_xxWzg/s1600/20140902_140319.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As we were so late we had to drive on to Maburi village where a bigger crowd was waiting, despite the monthly market in the neighbouring village.&nbsp; An awning with a table complete with floral displays had been set up for us and children began dancing as soon as our speakers began playing local music.&nbsp; After the village chairman opened the meeting the local pastor and a choir began singing songs with gender equality messages,&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Rhobi then made posed the question and many people </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ff4invGzgWg/VAYNrf8M8wI/AAAAAAAAKJw/tE27StbWlUM/s1600/20140902_164642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ff4invGzgWg/VAYNrf8M8wI/AAAAAAAAKJw/tE27StbWlUM/s1600/20140902_164642.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">came up to speak about it, including a few in rap. Occasionally a herd of goats strayed through the proceedings, to be shooed away.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The peer educators then put on a drama showing a father forcing his daughter to have FGM against the wishes of the mother who he beat up so she ran away. &nbsp;The daughter died and the mother returned with the police who arrested the father and the&nbsp;circumciser</span><br /><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BksOKUm2nEA/VAYNJT3cciI/AAAAAAAAKJg/RoUW6M1RRhI/s1600/20140902_171104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BksOKUm2nEA/VAYNJT3cciI/AAAAAAAAKJg/RoUW6M1RRhI/s1600/20140902_171104.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The event ended with us being presented with a live chicken and some eggs.&nbsp; Rhobi tried to get me to take it, which caused much hilarity with the villagers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Afterwards we spoke to many girls who were keen to tell their stories.&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/gGwPfT0aS80?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><span style="color: #404040; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">You can see more about Rhobi's work here&nbsp;</span></div>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-65823404320451521072014-09-02T21:06:00.003-07:002014-10-12T02:23:56.376-07:00Meeting Rhobi at the Safe House in Mugumu<div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXdyXWiKClo/VAaJpo98XEI/AAAAAAAAKLQ/x93j9CvnovE/s1600/20140901_172014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXdyXWiKClo/VAaJpo98XEI/AAAAAAAAKLQ/x93j9CvnovE/s1600/20140901_172014.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Finally meeting this inspirational FGM campaigner...</i></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had heard so much about Rhobi, and been communicating with her for so long it was fantastic to finally meet her in person.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbJ2RirBfKA/VAaJV6sQzTI/AAAAAAAAKLA/rVD4bJiG_68/s1600/20140901_172309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbJ2RirBfKA/VAaJV6sQzTI/AAAAAAAAKLA/rVD4bJiG_68/s1600/20140901_172309.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went to the Anglican Church of Tanzania, ACT. office on the site of St Joseph's church in Mugumu where the safe house and vocational training centre is being built.&nbsp; I was pleased to see builders on site putting in the door lintels.&nbsp; I was told that the windows and doors were ready to go in tomorrow and that the safe house should be finished by the end of September.&nbsp; This is fantastic news, particularly as Rhobi is expecting girls refusing </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Female Genital Mutilation, FGM, to start coming in October and is confident they will be ready.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ACT has 7 different projects around Musoma, mostly in agricultural development and supporting physically disabled children, and the one against Gender Based Violence, GBV, in Serengeti region, of which the Safe House is part.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi started working in 12 villages in Serengeti April 2012, in what was supposed to be a one year project.&nbsp; This involved setting up a community meeting with the </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9HQuhleB8RM/VAaJ9l2RbQI/AAAAAAAAKLg/3Ljp5wKwZZA/s1600/20140901_171719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9HQuhleB8RM/VAaJ9l2RbQI/AAAAAAAAKLg/3Ljp5wKwZZA/s1600/20140901_171719.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">village leaders explaining the effects of GBV, early marriage, HIV and FGM.&nbsp; This was followed by a meeting with the whole community. However there were sometimes issues with women being kept from attending these meetings by their husbands, so instead Rhobi organises traditional dance competitions in the villages, which had a much better female attendance rate, and then finished the event with a community forum with a motion such as "FGM helps to discipline girls in our community" which led to heated debate.&nbsp; Rhobi also trained community workers in each village to support women and girls, and created a radio announcement about the<a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/" target="_blank"> dangers of FGM</a> which was aired on local radio every day in the cutting month of December 2012.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ff4invGzgWg/VAYNrf8M8wI/AAAAAAAAKJw/tE27StbWlUM/s1600/20140902_164642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ff4invGzgWg/VAYNrf8M8wI/AAAAAAAAKJw/tE27StbWlUM/s1600/20140902_164642.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This led to 16 girls deciding to stand up to their parents and refuse to go through with FGM, with its horrific, long term health effects. The girls, aged between 9 and 13 went to their local pastors, who took them in.&nbsp; ACT then came with a police officer from the gender desk in Mugumu, the regional capital, and a lawyer and had meetings with the village leaders.&nbsp; Eventually the parents agreed to sign an affidavit promising not to mutilate their daughters and they were able to go home.&nbsp; Rhobi keeps in regular contact with these girls, and they&nbsp;are still fine, except one who failed her&nbsp;Standard 7 exam and so as this means she could not go on to secondary school, had to get married, at 14. Fifty per cent of the girls who marry below the age of 18 in these villages will be HIV positive within six months.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Accommodating the girls before they become reconciled with their parents puts huge pressure on the pastors, who live in very humble homes in the villages, and for girls finishing their education there are currently no alternatives to early marriage.&nbsp; Therefore we are building a Safe House and Vocational Training Centre in Mugumu, so girls who fail their Standard 7 exam can instead learn a trade such as tailoring or carpentry, to support themselves.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIaPbQ_QIz8/VAaJzfWiRzI/AAAAAAAAKLY/lgsfaGnJB6Y/s1600/20140901_171940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIaPbQ_QIz8/VAaJzfWiRzI/AAAAAAAAKLY/lgsfaGnJB6Y/s1600/20140901_171940.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While we had dinner with Pastor Moses Homboi and his wife, Rhobi's phone kept ringing.&nbsp; She explained about a woman in Magotini village, who was continually being beaten up by her husband.&nbsp; In desperation she had contacted Rhobi who had helped her to report him to the local police.&nbsp; Unfortunately the husband bribed them to let him go and the violence started again.&nbsp; Rhobi contacted the Chief of Police in Mugumu to complain, who transferred the corrupt officer to another station.&nbsp; The next time the husband abused her the local police again arrested him.&nbsp; They were reluctant to keep him in though and suggested to the abused woman that she should either take him back or pay them to transfer him to Mugumu.&nbsp; Again Rhobi complained to the Chief.&nbsp; He said the man should be transferred , but there was a problem of transport.&nbsp; So Rhobi dispatched the project driver to&nbsp;go to the village to pick up the husband, under police escort, to deliver him to the main police office in town.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rhobi deals with issues like this on a daily basis.&nbsp; Unless she supports women who finally have the courage to try and fight for their rights they will simply go back to accepting their fate, as before.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow we will visit two of the villages to see community forums in action.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div></div></div><br />Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-43011434749157630722014-09-02T01:24:00.000-07:002014-10-12T02:21:58.242-07:00A quick detour to Ngorongoro Crater..<a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-p-uLNVNkrOs%2FVAVplP6mFPI%2FAAAAAAAAKIQ%2F8b70Wk5t7rE%2Fs1600%2F20140831_063412.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p-uLNVNkrOs/VAVplP6mFPI/AAAAAAAAKIQ/8b70Wk5t7rE/s1600/20140831_063412.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p-uLNVNkrOs/VAVplP6mFPI/AAAAAAAAKIQ/8b70Wk5t7rE/s1600/20140831_063412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>A two day holiday from visiting projects...</i></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As my bus went right past Ngorongoro Crater I thought it would be&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">foolish not to stop. &nbsp;The bus was to drop me at Rhino junction, inside the National Park. &nbsp;Even though it was only a short walk to the lodge I was told this was very dangerous and I must be met there. &nbsp;So I arranged with the lodge that I would phone them when the bus went past the viewpoint and they would come and meet me at the junction.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QaKCbyRyrrY/VAVvno5xsoI/AAAAAAAAKIg/ZxHPZgG8Fdo/s1600/20140831_083602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QaKCbyRyrrY/VAVvno5xsoI/AAAAAAAAKIg/ZxHPZgG8Fdo/s1600/20140831_083602.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we climbed up to the crater rim it became very foggy. &nbsp;The bus was incredibly crowded ad the windows so dusty it was very hard to see you, particularly from my seat three in from either side. &nbsp;However I caught a glimpse of some parked safari vehicles and guessed we were at the viewpoint and had better phone, only to find I had no mobile reception. &nbsp;I had visions of stumbling across a</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lion in the mist, but luckily Steven, the lodge's driver was patiently waiting at the junction.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kKjnbSsQ3Qc/VAVsTH0OaQI/AAAAAAAAKIY/6WJ6p7SpTjY/s1600/20140830_155714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kKjnbSsQ3Qc/VAVsTH0OaQI/AAAAAAAAKIY/6WJ6p7SpTjY/s1600/20140830_155714.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the mist cleared I went for a walk along the crater rim with an armed ranger, Maxwell. &nbsp;I assumed the gun was probably only for show so asked him if he ever used it. &nbsp;"All the time," he asserted, usually to frighten off belligerent buffalo, but last year he had to kill a pride of six lions after they had eaten three Masai children. &nbsp;After lions have tasted human flesh they have to be shot before they kill again, he explained.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We walked past Masai children of six years old herding huge herds of goats, including one carrying a baby goat they had helped deliver that day. &nbsp;We then came across a group of three Masai boys with white paint on their faces. &nbsp;They seemed almost as interested in me as I was in them. &nbsp;Maxwell explained their markings signified they had been circumcised last week and they now had to spend eight months living independently away from the village. &nbsp;When they returned they would be recognised as men. &nbsp;They were between 8 and 13 years old. &nbsp;None of them was now in school, two of them had never been as their parents had refused to let them go. &nbsp;They said they were sad about this, but had had no choice.</span><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TqzroJN_sgU/VAV0LT_xMiI/AAAAAAAAKIo/rBbuR9cDc50/s1600/20140831_091854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TqzroJN_sgU/VAV0LT_xMiI/AAAAAAAAKIo/rBbuR9cDc50/s1600/20140831_091854.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They were then joined by four more boys with markings and one without. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was unable to get circumcised because his father did not have a cow to slaughter. &nbsp;When the boys are cut they bleed, and have to replace the blood they lose by drinking cattle blood. &nbsp;Not being circumcised means he will be unable to marry. &nbsp;I asked about the girls, and Maxwell said although they don't admit FGM goes on any more, they still do it secretly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning I set off with Steven before dawn down into the crater. &nbsp;As we descended we left the cloud behind and the huge expanse of the crater appeared with an enormous white salt flat from an evaporated lake at its centre. </span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0BPyeMWthA/VAV4BOSUtOI/AAAAAAAAKIw/IHyTQkLwG-0/s1600/20140831_104529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0BPyeMWthA/VAV4BOSUtOI/AAAAAAAAKIw/IHyTQkLwG-0/s1600/20140831_104529.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We saw lions asleep, right by the road. &nbsp;They looked very settled, but Steven warned me not to put my head out of the window as they can pounce very suddenly. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We followed a hippo doggedly walking half a mile to a watering hole. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;It's unuusal to see them out of the water during the day. &nbsp;At the water hole there were 40 more soaking themselves, and occasionally rolling over to expose their pink bellies. &nbsp;A flock of storks landed in a line and </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dived for fish in coordinated, balletic movements.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6B1sTJ9iy0k/VAV7qTVmsOI/AAAAAAAAKI4/ckxxIm2sp6Y/s1600/20140831_121533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6B1sTJ9iy0k/VAV7qTVmsOI/AAAAAAAAKI4/ckxxIm2sp6Y/s1600/20140831_121533.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had wanted to see elephants, but maybe not</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as close as we did. &nbsp;An enormous belligerent bull elephant didn't like us in his territory and forced us to reverse away quickly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wouldn't say the buffalo looked very friendly either. &nbsp;They kill the most people of any wild animal, followed by hippo and elephants.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W2pWr764mGI/VAX28-FYYYI/AAAAAAAAKJM/OK1f2GAG2CE/s1600/20140831_112742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W2pWr764mGI/VAX28-FYYYI/AAAAAAAAKJM/OK1f2GAG2CE/s1600/20140831_112742.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly the grazing zebra seemed spooked. &nbsp;A pack of 15 hyenas were circling, looking for a sick, injured or young member to take down. &nbsp;The zebra made desperate whinnying noises to warn each other of the danger.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FJFWXqx--Vc/VAX2koFEoeI/AAAAAAAAKJE/Y9aq-Kzy7tU/s1600/20140831_094233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FJFWXqx--Vc/VAX2koFEoeI/AAAAAAAAKJE/Y9aq-Kzy7tU/s1600/20140831_094233.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following morning the same bus picked me up from the junction and we drove 7 hours across the Serengeti along bone shaker roads, stopping at Masai villages to pick yet more people up to stand in the aisle with their goats. &nbsp;I was amazed how many animals we saw racing through, including two lions at the side of the road and a hyena right in the middle, refusing to move.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, covered in dust, I arrived in Mugumu, site of the Safe House, to meet Rhobi at last.</span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-56761655529310950802014-08-29T10:52:00.000-07:002014-10-12T02:18:49.267-07:00Powering Potential - bringing computers to rural off grid schools<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qw4lcO7-V9o/VACQ18XdEXI/AAAAAAAAKEY/Bg5daNRnPus/s1600/20140829_151548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qw4lcO7-V9o/VACQ18XdEXI/AAAAAAAAKEY/Bg5daNRnPus/s1600/20140829_151548.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>An amazing use of Raspberry Pi's...</b></i></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I met an amazing young man called Albin who is the country director for <a href="http://poweringpotential.org/techtent.html" target="_blank">Powering Potential</a> a charity setting up solar powered computer labs in rural, off grid schools.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />We visited Welwel secondary school, one of ten schools they have set up in and around Karatu, close to Ngorogoro crater in Tanzania.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8za3qciu_C8/VACRys2tUtI/AAAAAAAAKFQ/-fg1cUwLkWI/s1600/20140829_135348_B%2B144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8za3qciu_C8/VACRys2tUtI/AAAAAAAAKFQ/-fg1cUwLkWI/s1600/20140829_135348_B%2B144.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because the capacity of solar panels is not sufficient to power many standard desktop pcs they are running a system based on Raspberry Pi computers, with locally bought keyboards and monitors - meaning one station uses about 10 watts, compared to between 60 and 300W for a normal desktop machine.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m5TFhzWEHYo/VACRZzLgKsI/AAAAAAAAKEw/KCwRiDYda18/s1600/20140829_142239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m5TFhzWEHYo/VACRZzLgKsI/AAAAAAAAKEw/KCwRiDYda18/s1600/20140829_142239.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cost of internet access is prohibitive for most schools so they have installed offline Wikipedia and Khan Academy videos and other educational content called RACHEL from <a href="http://www.worldpossible.org/rachel/" target="_blank">World Possible. </a>&nbsp;They even supply low wattage battery powered projectors with rechargeable speakers so a whole class at once can watch.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DoVbuUiDsLY/VACRGQgbxWI/AAAAAAAAKEo/2LpWngfpidI/s1600/20140829_151503.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DoVbuUiDsLY/VACRGQgbxWI/AAAAAAAAKEo/2LpWngfpidI/s1600/20140829_151503.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently Powering Potential have completed three more school installations, all of which include three weeks training delivered by their locally trained technicians. &nbsp;These remote local communities have to demonstrate commitment to the project by building a suitable room, providing transport for the equipment and&nbsp;accommodation&nbsp;for the trainers during the training. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />A remarkable achievement - no wonder President Kikwete recently expressed an interest in a role out to the 80% of Tanzanian schools; who are not yet connected to the grid...</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6508709454242586363.post-24081099669787947732014-08-28T05:10:00.002-07:002014-10-12T02:14:55.807-07:00Teacher Training with Village Education Project Kilimanjaro<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVX6MLhEt_Q/U_6fWQELYmI/AAAAAAAAJ98/AWoUGB55CKw/s1600/20140826_072314_Ashira%2BRd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></i></b></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Tacking the harder problems in Tanzanian schools...</i></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-aVX6MLhEt_Q%2FU_6fWQELYmI%2FAAAAAAAAJ98%2FAWoUGB55CKw%2Fs1600%2F20140826_072314_Ashira%252BRd.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVX6MLhEt_Q/U_6fWQELYmI/AAAAAAAAJ98/AWoUGB55CKw/s1600/20140826_072314_Ashira%2BRd.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Katy Allen is an ex London lawyer who has been working to improve the standard of English in government primary schools in this region of Tanzania for the last twenty years through the charity she started, Village Education Project Kilimanjaro, VEPK..</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NFj_CN_SBMg/U_uPVyDrwKI/AAAAAAAAJ80/USzllK-FzdU/s1600/20140824_112752_Ashira%2BRd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NFj_CN_SBMg/U_uPVyDrwKI/AAAAAAAAJ80/USzllK-FzdU/s1600/20140824_112752_Ashira%2BRd.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Katy started by refurbishing schools – mending leaking roofs and putting glass in the windows so the classrooms aren't filled with dust when it’s windy.&nbsp; She soon realised that although Tanzania has done a good job of getting children into school, it has been much less successful in getting them to learn there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RqGRivxfvYs/U_uE-bsKvAI/AAAAAAAAJ6c/1XhRiJMpkGo/s1600/20140825_090858.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RqGRivxfvYs/U_uE-bsKvAI/AAAAAAAAJ6c/1XhRiJMpkGo/s1600/20140825_090858.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Problems are huge.&nbsp; Teachers are told where to teach and spend many hours travelling on very poor roads to get to work, using up a high proportion of the meagre salary to do so.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHuTh05Zc60/U_uMB-dUagI/AAAAAAAAJ8M/DpKBeDhsQUQ/s1600/20140825_080822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHuTh05Zc60/U_uMB-dUagI/AAAAAAAAJ8M/DpKBeDhsQUQ/s1600/20140825_080822.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teacher training covers content not methodology so teachers&nbsp;generally spend lessons copying notes from (often inadequate) textbooks for the children to try to copy down into their flimsy exercise books, understanding nothing.&nbsp; That is if they are lucky enough to have a pen. In this class a quarter of the class did not, and had to wait for their friends to finish and lend them one.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BZ4GNOqytlQ/U_ntBcVHW4I/AAAAAAAAJ5A/9ZFhuz6o2v4/s1600/20140824_101936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BZ4GNOqytlQ/U_ntBcVHW4I/AAAAAAAAJ5A/9ZFhuz6o2v4/s1600/20140824_101936.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the classes are enormous, up to 109.&nbsp; There are not enough classrooms so half the children come in the morning and half in the afternoon.&nbsp; Even so there are two classes in the room above so while one class is being taught the other is supposed to sit waiting.&nbsp; There are no pupil books or teaching aids.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />VEPK runs seminars for Maths and English teachers, teaching them participatory teaching techniques using materials found locally such as bottle tops.&nbsp; They also run one to one sessions with teachers explaining the topics they find hardest. &nbsp;They show them how to analyse the results of the trial exams to work out which topics their children are struggling with - standard procedure in the UK, but a revalation to these teachers. They are also&nbsp;producing and&nbsp;trialing&nbsp;new text books</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The enthusiasm in which Katy and Barb were greeted in each school we went to was evidence of the high regard they are held in by teachers and children alike. The lessons I saw were interactive, pacy and fun - a far cry from the standard lessons here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can read more about VEPK's work <a href="http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/improving-primary-school-education-in-kilimanjaro/" target="_blank">here.</a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Janet Chapmanhttps://plus.google.com/101065047127891579352noreply@blogger.com0